The first book is about our experiences in France, and this second book covers the rest of our tour to Monaco and Italy. Following our stay in Nice, we travelled by coach to the Italian Riviera, with a visit to Monaco en route. The Italian Riviera is known for its numerous picturesque and historic towns and villages, and the dramatic scenery of spectacular cliffs and rugged coastline with many small bays and inlets. We stayed overnight in Genoa, a city with a glorious past and impressive landmarks. Nearby are the Cinque Terre villages that date from the 12th century - each village is different and all have dramatic coastal scenery.

We stayed our final 5 nights in Tuscany, known for its carefully tended hills covered by vineyards, olive groves and large stone farmhouses, and for the great Renaissance cities of Florence, and Pisa (which were included in our holiday). Our base in Italy was the coastal resort town of Viareggio, which has a long, lovely coastline with wide sandy beaches and parks. We stayed at the Hotel President, a first class hotel located right on Viareggio’s seafront esplanade across the road from the beach.